Let the World Shatter
by SkylerSylin
Summary: Set 30 years after the end of vol 3, this story focuses on a new generation of hunters and huntresses. Some are the offspring of our favorite heroes, some are brand new. What lies in store for these young trainees? What kind of bonds will they forge with their classmates and instructors? What other challenges await? There is only one way to find out..
**Hey all! Sky here with another story. This is just a little something I came up with awhile back but never posted. I had to do a little altering to what I previously wrote due to the ending for vol 3. This is set 30 years after those events with some of the characters from the traditional sense being present but with more of a focus on a new generation of hunters and huntresses. Most all of the characters with be of my own creation. Some of the characters will be the children of my favorite pairings of the original cast and others completely new! Hopfully you enjoy getting to know a new generation! Feedback is most welcome. :)**

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Being born was not something that any person had control over. Yet time and time again the world would prove that anyone was subject to persecution or abnormal treatment due to the circumstances of one's birth becoming common knowledge.

At a young age, that was something the young girl sitting at the back of the air ship had learned all too well. She had no control over who her parents where, yet for as long as she could remember people had treated her differently because of it.

It's not that they treated her badly at least. Quite the opposite really. Due to the nature of who her parents where, the treated her with the upmost respect and dignity you could treat a person. This did come with a price though. While respected, she was also held to much higher standards than the normal person was.

Everyone that she met expected great things from her. She was expected to follow perfectly in her parents foot steps and to obtain nothing but the highest levels of merits in school and training. While she loved the direction following in her parents footsteps would take her, she loathed the high expectations. Mostly due to every action she made being compared to them.

Even for everything she had achieved on her own over the years, it was always the same. Her teachers would always respond: keep it up and you will be just as strong as your parents. It was devastating to hear. Just once she wished she wouldn't be compared to them. Living in their shadow was a hard thing to endure.

Of course her relationship with her parents was nothing short of perfect. Both where kind, loving and supportive. They knew of the comparisons their daughter received and did their best to keep her spirits high with near constant praise. They celebrated every accomplishment made like the world had been saved and helped push her to even greater heights. They even went as far as to attempt to persuade her teachers to not expect so much, but it was in vain. But now she was old enough to go to a more stable school, one where her name would still be repected, but would only serve to create challenges for her.

Challenges they openly told her before she packed her things to attend Beacon Academy. Challenges that only someone with the name Erika Belladonna-Rose would have to endure. Her name was both a blessing and a curse. She had inherited her parents skills in battle thankfully, which made her acceptance into Beacon a walk in the park.

At 18 it was that time where she could finally step out and attend the school. Where she could finally follow her parents path completely and become a huntress. For as long as she could remember she had latched onto their stories about being huntresses and saving the world. She dreamed of nothing more than having her own adventures and saving that very world her parents and their friends had. Finally putting to rest the comparisons and getting recognized as being an individual and not just her parents daughter.

Erika had inherited more than just her parents skills. Being the biological child of the famous huntresses Blake Belladonna and Ruby Rose, she looked like a perfect mesh between the two. She was taller than most girls her age, her hair straight as an arrow and jet black save for a red streak in her bangs she left hanging partially over her eyes. She typically wore it up in a half ponytail but when she let it down it reached the middle of her back. She inherited Blake's cat like Faunus ears in addition to normal ones, along with Ruby's piercing silver eyes.

She typically wore black and red. Black combat boots with black skinny pants with a black top with a red stripe running diagonaly down from her left shoulder. She preferred a cape like Ruby, but kept it smaller, only having a half version, she kept pined to her right shoulder and let drape down to her knees; also in red. She also ditched the hood and made a pair of customizable short sword and pistol combinations her weapons of choice. Black with red accents of course to go with everything else.

Currently she was sitting at the very back of the air ship as it made its way to Beacon. Surprisingly there was only one other person on the ship with her. A young man that looked to be around her own age casually leaned up against the window a good distance away staring out it. He had headphones in his ears and Erika could hear the load rock music blaring from where she sat. Admittedly it was a good song but to have it that loud couldn't be good for his ears.

Truthfully as she looked he got increasingly more interesting. He couldn't be more than 18 years old, and obviously from the way he was casually stretching out looked to be a bit taller than she was. He too was dressed in mostly black, with black sneakers, black jeans with cuts in them and a black tee shirt with silver lettering. He had a silver necklace around his neck and she was surprised to note that he also had silver eyes. His hair was jet black and of medium length, which he kept swept in front of his eyes as well. She could make out the smallish set of Faunus cat ears as well. On the seat next to him was a long katana with a black and silver zip up hoody draped across it. She could barely make out a bit of reddish tint to the hilt of the sword.

As she looked over at him she managed to catch his eye in his faces reflection on the window. Blushing when he started to turn her way she looked down and away. She blushed even more when she heard his music turn off and the sound of him getting up. She kept her eyes staring straight down at the floor and clenched her hands together in her lap as she heard him getting closer to her. Soon enough the sound stopped and she sensed him standing a few feet away. Clenching her fists together harder she continued to stare at the floor.

"Hey. How's it going?"

Erika nearly jumped out of her skin as he spoke and she looked up in surprise at him.

"Um.. i.. uh.." she barely managed to stutter out.

He smiled. "Hey, relax it's all good."

"I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to stare! You're just the only other person on the ship and I was bored and I heard your music and it was interesting! And I'm so sorry!" It came out all in a rush and vaugly recognizable.

He laughed a little. "Whoa you talk pretty fast. It's fine though, being up here for hours all alone with no music has to drive you crazy. Gave me an excuse to talk to you anyways. I'm Skyler Arranda by the way. You can call me Sky though." He held out his hand.

Erika stared for a moment then shook it. "I'm Erika Belladonna-Rose. Nice to meet you Sky."

He did a double take for a split second. "Belladonna-Rose? So your parents are the famous huntresses Blake Belladonna and Ruby Rose?"

She looked away. "Yeah.. they are.."

"Wow that's awesome! I bet you got to hear all sorts of stories growing up! Must have been cool." Sky paused at the look on her face. Chuckling sofly he sat down next to her.

"I'm guessing it had its drawbacks as well?"

Erika nodded and just stared at the floor.

"I can probably guess what those where. I had to live in the shadow of who my parents are as well. It's not easy when everyone assumes you are exactly how they are. That's why I'm going to Beacon. I'm originally from Haven but because of my parents everyone there is always judging me and looking down on me. Even though I had nothing to do with it, they treated me like I was the plauge. So I had to learn to take care of myself from a really young age."

She looked up and over at him. "So you do know what it's like. All my life everyone has told me that one day if I work hard enough I'll be as strong as my parents. Even when I did something amazing I would still get compared to them. And how can a child's accomplishment compare to saving the world? To everyone but mom and mother I've always came up short. They are the only ones to ever tell me that I was good enough and treat me like I was myself."

"That's pretty rough.. I dont know exactly what it's like, because I was outcast because of my parents. But I know the feeling of the shadow, and nothing you do being good enough. Even when I did good things, the towns people would blame the situation on me anyways. And just say that it was only fair that I fixed the mess I created."

"That's so sad. I can see why you would come to Beacon then. But what made you want to be a hunter?"

Sky was silent for a moment while he thought of the best way to answer. "When I was little, everything was still in full rebuild mode from after the Fall. It was hard to get by, and make ends meet, especially in Haven. My parents had worked as hunters prior, but nobody would employ them after everything went down. So they did what they had to do. Dad became a mercenary for hire, and mom did some pretty shady stuff. Day end and day out they would hurt and steal from the people around us. They would tell me that it was the only way to survive. I still don't know fully the things that they did, but the villagers feared them. Then one day, they both just vanished. And left me all alone. Nobody to look after me anymore and I never heard from them again. The villager shunned me thinking that I was the same. I had always heard the stories of hunters and huntresses saving those in need, and since I needed help I believed someone would come to save me. But nobody ever came, and I decided right then and there that I wanted to be a hero, so that I could save people like me who needed a hero in their lives to get them through."

Erika smiled. "That's pretty noble of you. I'm sorry nobody came to save you, but it looks like you turned out pretty decent from where I'm sitting."

He laughed. "I guess so. It was hard but in the end getting to this point was worth it. I'll prove that who my parents where can't dictate who I am, and I'll prove that I can save people. Are you doing this just because of who your parents are?"

She shook her head. "No its more than that. While it's true that most likely any other path but this one just wouldn't make sense because of my heritage. I'm doing this because I want too. I loved the stories they would tell me when I was a child. I loved hearing about all the adventure and friendship and for as long as I can remember I've wanted that for myself. I don't have many friends you see. Most people would hear my name and then avoid me. They thought that I was too far above them and wouldn't want to be around them. Which wasn't true.. I was so alone as a child. I had my parents and they where very good to me but it would have been nice to have kids my own age to play with. I decided that I wanted to be a huntress so that I could go on adventures and meet new people, so that I could get stronger and finally make everyone realize that I'm not just the daughter of Blake Belladonna and Ruby Rose, I'm Erika."

Sky smiled. "Now that I can understand perfectly. You want people to realize that you are you and not just the daughter of two great huntresses."

"Exactly. Kind of like how you dont want to just be know as the child of two people that where a little less than honorable."

"Yeah.. besides. If I can get people to realize that I'm not them, maybe I can redeem my family name. Right now it's garbage, but someday.. someday people will hear it and say that it's the name of heros."

Erika giggled. "So it's also a bit about your own redemption as well huh?"

He laughed again. "Yeah basically. Speaking of, that's what I named my sword. Redemption."

"A fitting name for a blade to redeem your family name with. I named my swords Reign and Storm. Mostly because I thought those where pretty names!"

"Well they are that. They just swords or do they do anything else?"

"They double as pistols. Both are capable of being altered with my aura on the fly in order to fire them. Similar to my mother's sword, but I ditched the lame ribbon she has. Mom was pretty upset that I didn't take to a scythe like her, but I just found it way too big and bulky for my taste. What made you decide on a single blade?"

Sky winked. "That's a secret for later. It involves my semblance and I would like to keep that a surprise."

"That's reasonable. I don't want people knowing mine yet either, at least not until I'm on a team. I'll have to tell my teammates and partner so that we can be sure to work well together."

"Speaking of teammates, do you know how that works?"

"No its different every year apparently. My aunt Yang is one of the teachers here at Beacon but she wouldnt tell me how exactly the works. Only that she had something epic planned and I should look forward to it."

"Sounds like it could be hard. If half the stories I've heard about your aunt are true then it's probably going to be dangerous."

Erika giggled. "Oh the stories don't do her justice! She's way worse."

Sky paled. "You're joking right?"

"Nope!" She responded happily.

He groaned. "So much for a walk in the park orientation."

"Yeah if aunt Yang is involved then it's going to be rough. But she won't put us in too much danger I'm sure. And if we are in any, bet she's the first there to rescue us."

"At least that's nice to know. I'm kind of excited about all this now. Sounds like an instant chance to prove what we are capable of."

"I know! I'm super excited as well. Im glad we are almost there. I'm hoping we get to jump right into the thick of things."

"Well it looks like you won't have to wait much longer, because I think that's Beacon just up ahead."

Sure enough both stood to look out the window as Beacon Academy came into full view. After the Fall the school had changed dramatically. Gone was the dragon like grimm from the tower and all the damages had been fixed. The tower itself had been rebuilt to ressemble it's previous look and the courtyards rebuilt. Somewhere along the way the rebuilders had decided to add a pond with trees and benches along a small path that wrapped around it before heading into a garden area. The school was approximately the same size as it previously had been although it had some new outlying buildings. One such building was it's very own arena. That was connected to the school via a protected walkway to ensure that history would not so easily repeat itself.

The airship soon landed and Erika and Sky soon disembarked. Sky pulled his hoody on and zipped it up before strapping his sword to his back sideways with the hilt sticking out from his right hip. After pushing his sleeves up to his elbows, he grinned at Erika, earning a blush. Together they walked across the landing platform where a small group of people had gathered. Once close enough the woman at the front raised a hand in greeting.

"Hey there. I'm Yang Xiao-Long and I'm one of the instructors here. I hope you both had a nice journey. Your time here at Beacon will test you as an individual more than ever before, so I hope you're ready for what is in store for you. This is your last opportunity to turn back, because after this you are a hunter or huntress in training and going back is never an option. Do you have any questions?"

She paused for a moment. "Good. Now if you both would follow me to the arena where we will be holding orientation. The rest are already assembled and waiting for us."

She turned and left with a few others following her that could only be assumed where also teachers. Erika and Sky fell into step behind them all instantly nervous after the exchange. It wasn't every day that you get greeted by someone like Yang so briefly and weren't left a little unnerved. Yang was mostly unchanged since the Fall. She still towered over most people and her hair was as long as ever. She had added the addition of a mechanical prosthetic to replace her missing arm, keeping it wrapped in white bandages so that the metal was never showing. She still wore a short skirt and brown combat boots with a yellow top showing way too much cleavage with a brown leather jacket tossed over.

Erika was the one mostly miffed by the exchange. She hadn't seen her aunt face to face in almost a year and had expected some kind of reunion. It made a bit of sense though. Blake and Ruby had warned her that she should expect no special treatment from Yang while she attended Beacon. She just hadn't expected to basically be ignored by her.

As the followed the instructors they couldn't help but look around and marvel at the school. It was beautiful and breathtaking to behold. Eventually they made their way from the air ship platforms to the tunnel that connected the school to the arena. A brief walk took them though and inside where they joined the rest of their classmates on the stage in the center. Here they paused and waited as Yang got everyone's attention.

"So now that we are all here I can explain to you how this is going to work. The rest of the instructors and I will be sorting you into pairs today. The person we pair you with will become your partner for your entire time here at Beacon. Tomorrow you and your partner will undergo a test during which we will grade your teamwork. After that you will be grouped with another pair and the four of you will make up a team. We will assign one of you as leader and then you will be shown to your dorms. Classes will then begin, which you will attend as a team, and your lives here at Beacon will have started. Now, to make sure we pair you with someone that complements who you are we need to see how you all are in action. The best way to do so is of course to have a little combat tournament. The computer will select two names at random and those people will battle until one of their auras is depleted. I will act as referee. So! Without further ado let's see who are the lucky first two!"

Clapping her hands together she turned to the big screen behind her and watched as two names started to spin on either side of a vs symbol before slowing down and coming to a stop. A collective gasp was heard from all present.

Yang looked absolutely thrilled. "Excellent! For the first match we have Skyler Arranda vs Erika Belladonna-Rose! The rest of you lot clear off and leave the stage. I got a good feeling about this one!"

The other students cleared the stage leaving Erika and Sky to stand awkwardly in the middle opposite each other, both looking quite uncomfortable all of a sudden. Tension kept building before finally Erika spoke while drawing her swords.

"So Sky. How about you show me that semblance now and I'll show you mine?"

Sky smiled and drew is own sword. "Sounds like a fair trade."

Yang backed off and looked to the other instructors and nodded. Turning back to the pair she gave them some final advice.

"This could very well determine your success or failure here at Beacon, so don't hold back. I will stop the match if I feel either of you has gone too far, otherwise you're both free to go all out. Questions?"

She paused and both sank into ready stances and gripped their weapons tighter.

"On my mark.. 5..4..3..2..1...BEGIN!"

Erika and Sky came together in a clang of metal on metal and a shower of sparks, the first test in their lives as hunters and huntresses already beginning.

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 **So this is technically a repost of a fic I posted a few weeks ago. I got to re-reading it and found ALOT of spelling an grammar errors. I fixed most of them and did a little altering for clarity. Hopefully this is MUCH better than what I originally posted.. Any tips/advice is more than welcome. I might could use some ideas for characters to drop a PM my way, and it might show up. I'm going to be trying to update this regularly so keep and eye out! As always.. thanks for reading!**

 **Sky out o/ :)**


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